Ballast-cleaner.



. I. TRENOH & A. G. ZEPP.

BALLAST CLEANER.

APPLIOATION FILED OCT. 24, 1913.

Patented Dec. 1, 19%

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

7HE NORRIS P'ETERS C0,. PHOYIILITHO" WASHINGYON. D C

W. I. TRENCH & A. G. ZEPP.

BALLAST CLEANER.

APPLICATION IILBD OCT. 24, 1913.

Patented Dec. 1, 19%

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS c0. PHOTO-Tun. WASHING 70M. 0. C

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WALTER IRA. THENCE, OF BALTIMORE, AND ARTIMUS G. ZEPP, OF ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, MARYLAND.

BALLAST-CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

Application filed October 24, 1913. Serial No. 797,015.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, W ALTER IRA TRENCTI and An'rnms Gr. Znrr, citizens of the United States of America, residing at the city of Baltimore, State of Maryland, and Annapolis Junction, Howard county, State of Maryland, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ballast-Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for cleaning railroad ballast of the general type disclosed in Figures 1 to l of our United States Patent No. 1,074,112, dated Septemher 30th, 1913.

The screen shown in these figures of the patent is particularly adapted for use in cleaning the ballast on the outer sides of the rails rather than between the rails, for the guide 8 and the runners 7 of the patent serve to position the screen so that the material treated can only be deposited outside the rails and about the ends of the ties.

The object of the present invention is to provide the cleaner with convenient means for so directing the flow of ballast from the screen that it is carried over the adjacent rail and deposited between the rails. This portion of or adjunct to the cleaner in order to deposit the cleaned material between the rails, must necessarily extend into the path of the trains, and as the operation of cleaning the ballast must be carried on while the track is in use, it is important to have it so mounted that it can be easily disengaged and removed on the passage of each train and as quickly and easily replaced.

To this end the device of the present invention consists of a chute mounted at the bottom of the screen and forming a continuation thereof whereby the material which rolls down the screen is conducted over the adjacent rail and deposited between the rails. The chute is so mounted that it may be grasped at its lower end with one hand, swung upward and laid over against the trough and out of the way of the material both as it is deposited on and as it rolls down the screen. In this position it neither interferes with the passage of the trains nor With the use of the screen in its normal operation as described in the patent above cited. Thus the single screen is changed instantaneously and adapted to be used either to clean the ballast between the tracks or that on the outside of the tracks at the ends of the ties.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated a railroad ballast cleaner constructed in accordance with the preferred form of our invention.

Fig. l is a side elevation of the ballast cleaning screen with the extension trough or chute attached, a portion of the road bed and a single rail to which the device is applied being shown in cross-scction, with a fragment of a tie in elevation. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the screen and trough in operative position, the road bed being shown partly in cross-section and the rail upon which the chute rests being shown in elevation. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, longitudinal section taken at the lower end of the screen showing a fragment of the upper end of the chute, the chute being in operative position. The same fragment of chute is also shown in dotted lines indicating the withdrawn position of the chute. F ig. f is a fragmentary cross-section on the line f, 4 in Fig. 1, the chute being withdrawn.

Referring to the different features of the device by numerals applied to the drawing; the original railroad ballast cleaner consists of a trough screen 1 having a rear support 2 and a front support 8 of any suitable type, the one illustrated having a foot I resting against the rail to position the screen and runners 5 to engage the ties as the screen is shifted along the road bed.

In the form of screen or ballast cleaner shown, the net 6 which performs the actual sifting or cleaning operation, consists of a series of parallel, longitudinal and transverse wires fastened at their ends or threaded through channels 7, the channels being in turn secured to the upright walls 8. The lower ends of the longitudinal wires are fastened in a transverse channel 9 near the lower end of the trough, which in the device shown rests on a transverse angle-iron 10 secured at its ends to the frame of the screen.

In the patented cleaner there is also shown a flat plate 11 used to guide the material issuing from the lower end of the screen when the cleaner is operating on the ballast at the ends of the tics and outside of the rails.

\Ve have illustrated in the various figures a conductor chute 12 adapted to receive the cleaned ballast at the bottom of the screen and convey it over the adjacent rail so that it is deposited. between the rails. The chute, as shown, consists ofa flat plate having upright flanges 18 extending along the lateral edges, the plate being divided on a transverse line into two parts hinged at 14-, the upper section 15 of the chute being in turn connected to the trough by arms 16 mounted on pivots 17 in the upright walls 8 of the trough. The lower end of the chute 12 rests on the adjacent rail 18, and the rigidity of the chute is maintained by means of pairs of upright lugs'lS), one pair of lugs being placed at each side of the chute and one lug of each pair being rigidly secured to each of the sections of the chute immediately adjacent the hinge 14. The upper ends of the lugs 19 are offset at 20, forming contacting members which come into engagement when the chute is extended with the two sections in alinement and hold the chute rigidly in extended position, supporting the weight of the material and chute.

In extended position, as shown in Fig. 1, the chute forms a continuation of the screen trough and extends from the bottom end of the screen trough over the adjacent rail, resting on the latter. Thus the screened material slides down the screen trough along the chute and over the rail where it is deposited between the rails. In this position the chute is of course in the path of the passing trains, and when it is desired to remove it on account of the passage of a train or to change the operation of the vcleaner and deposit the material about the ends of the ties instead of between the rails, the chute is quickly disposed of, the operator grasping the lower end with one hand and either section adjacent and below the hinge in the other hand, and the chute collapses and folds upon itself and over against the screen trough as shown in Fig. 1. In this position the ends of the lower lug 19 rest on the channel 7, and the chute is thus supported by this lug and by the arm 16 which, it will be noted, is offset so as to raise the chute above the screen in a position in which it is out of the path of the material flowing down the screen as well as out of the way of the workmen in depositing the material on the screen.

\Vhen the train has passed or it is again desired to change the operation of the cleaner, the chute is easily returned to operative position by grasping its lower end and pulling it down.

The nature of the invention and the operation of the device will be clearly understood from this description taken in connection with the preamble and drawings.

We have described specifically a single embodiment of our invention in order that its nature and operation may be clearly understood. However, the specific terms herein are used in their descriptive rather than in their limiting sense and the scope of the invention is defined in the claims.

IVhat we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen and means for spacing the same from the rails in position to deposit the screened material about the ends of the ties, a chute and means for supporting one end of the chute adjacent the lower end of the trough with the other end of the chute resting upon the adj acent rail.

2. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen and means for spacing the same from the rails in position to deposit the screened material about the ends of the ties, a chute of length slightly in excess of that of the spacing means, and means for supporting one end of the chute adjacent the lower end of the trough with the other end of the chute resting upon the adjacentrail.

3. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen and means for spacing the same from the rails in position to deposit the screened material about the ends of the ties, a chute pivotally connected to the. lower end of the-trough screen and adapted to swing relatively thereto from a position in which the chute lies on the trough to a position in which the free end of the chute rests on the adjacent rail.

4. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen, a chute pivotally connected to the lower end of the trough and formed in two sections pivotally connected to each other with means for preventing collapse of the screen and holding it indistended position when the free end is supported from beneath.

5. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with aninclined trough screen, a chute pivotally connected to the lower end of the trough and formed in two sections pivotally connected to each other, contact members on'eachsection adjacent the hinge adapted to contact-with each other when the two sections are swung into alinement, the

contact members being upright when the sections are in alinement, thus serving to hold the chute in this position when the free end of the chute is supported; the lugs on the member of the chute which is connected to the trough serving to bear on the trough to support the folded screen out of the path of the material being treated.

6. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen, a

chute pivotally connected to the lower end of the screen, an upright arm on the chute engaging the pivot, the chute being formed in two sections pivotally connected, upright lugs on each section adjacent the hinge, the lugs on the two sections being adapted to contact with each other when the chute is distended to hold the sections in alined position when the free end of the chute is supported from beneath, the lug on the section which is pivotally connected to the trough together with the upright arms serving to support the chute when it is folded and swung over toward the screen, and to hold it out of the path of material passing down the screen.

7. Ina ballast cleaner in combination with an inclined trough screen and means for spacing the same from the rails in position to deposit the screened material about the ends of the ties, a chute pivotally connected to the lower end of the screen trough and adapted to swing over against the trough and outward into position with its lower end resting on the adjacent rail, the chute being formed of two sections pivotally con nected, upright lugs on each section adjacent the hinge, the lugs being in contact when the hinge sections are in alinement with each other and thus serving to prevent lapse of the chute when its free end is supported on the rail, part of the upright lugs also serving to support the chute when it is folded and swung upward against the trough, the section of the screen adjacent the pivot carried by the trough having an ofl'set arm to engage this pivot, the offset arm and the lower upright lug serving to support the chute out of contact with the screen so as to permit the screened material to pass under the chute when in folded position.

8. In a railroad ballast cleaner in combination in an inclined trou h screen, a chute directly connected to the lower end of the trough, upright arms on the trough carrying the pivot, the trough being formed 1n sections pivotally connected to each other and means for supporting the end of the trough which is uppermost when the trough is folded, out of the path of the material being treated.

Signed by us at Baltimore this 23d day of October, 1913.

WALTER IRA TRENCI'I. ARTIMUS G. ZEPP.

Witnesses:

EDWIN F. SAMUELS, E. WEHMEYER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C." 

